Survey paints a picture of Mayor Filner

San Diego  Mayor Bob Filner stands up for what he believes, is active in the community, has a vision for San Diego, is a typical politician and — surprise — is pro-union.

Those are among the highlights of a poll of San Diego city residents that was part of a broader marketing research survey conducted for U-T San Diego. (See results below)

Many of the respondents see Filner as a decisive leader with new ideas, but even more don’t view him as particularly trustworthy or good at getting things done.

The survey was conducted by Probe Research Inc., a non-partisan firm based in Winnipeg, Canada, that has branch in San Diego. The company says it does not do polls on behalf of political parties. The online survey contacted 470 city residents and 1,005 overall across the county between March 1-4.

The main focus of the survey sought information on how people use and view U-T products and other local media, but some political questions were added.

The city and countywide samples trend similarly on opinions of Filner, though the numbers were different. Because he’s San Diego mayor, we’ll look at how city residents view him.

Among the 470 residents surveyed, 165 said they were Democrats, 94 Republican, 128 independent or unaffiliated, 69 refused to say, 14 other. Predictably, Democrats were more favorable in their view of the Democratic mayor than Republicans.

For example, only 14 percent of Democrats said he was anti-business compared to 54 percent of Republicans. Overall 27 percent agreed he was anti-business. Forty-five percent of Democrats called Filner a “typical politician” compared to 83 percent of Republicans.

The partisan divide wasn’t quite as dramatic about whether the mayor “stands up for what he believes” — 74 percent of Democrats and 57 percent of Republicans agree.

The sample of adult San Diego County residents who were invited to complete the survey reflects the age, gender and ethnic make up of the county, according to the company.

“How much do you agree or disagree with the following statements regarding San Diego Mayor Bob Filner?”